The focus of today’s Gospel appears to be about a man called Lazarus, but is it really? Is he really the central figure in the story? He has, after all, been dead for three days so unlike Nicodemus, the blind man or the woman at the well, he isn’t in a position to ask Jesus for anything. Let’s take a closer look at this story. 

We have all had the soul-wrenching experience of losing a loved one and we know the numbing sense of disbelief, of loss that accompanies that experience.  

Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary were close friends of Jesus. We understand that he was a frequent visitor to their home in Bethany. Their home was a place where he could rest and recuperate from his demanding ministry. The friendship they shared was one of depth and importance; friendship that Jesus treasured and counted on. 

Jesus is not present when Lazarus becomes sick and when he is made aware of his friend’s condition, he doesn’t rush to Bethany right away but waits three days. By the time he does arrive, Lazarus has passed away and his sisters are grief stricken, they don’t understand why Jesus took so long, believing that Jesus could have saved him.  

Understandably, Martha and Mary are grief stricken and confused as to why Jesus delayed coming to Bethany and are forceful in their response when he finally arrived: “If you had been here our brother would not have died”. What was going on with Jesus during this time? Well, we know that Lazarus was his close friend, when the sisters asked Jesus to come to their ailing brother, they referred to him as “he whom you love”. We also know that Jesus was both fully human and fully God. In his humanity, he was grieving; the story tells us that he wept when he saw that Lazarus had died. Scripture scholars say that he wept, not from deadness, but with anger, and finally, he accomplished what is sometimes referred to as Jesus’ greatest miracle, restoring a person to life who as been dead for four days.  

Like most if not all of you, I have grieved at the death of my loved ones: my dear grandma and parents, my closest friend, and my beloved husband. On each occasion, I have felt numb, undone, disbelief, powerless. I believe that Jesus felt all of these emotions too and wanted us to know that as a human being, he knows what we’re feeling, he cares, and he is with us in our grief. As fully divine, he also wanted Martha and Mary and us too, to know that death is not the end. 

And so he awakens Lazarus; not as a show of power, but as a sign that death indeed is not the end but the portal to eternal life beyond anything we can imagine. 

Where are you in this story? Who do you most identify with? You might identify most with Martha or Mary, or even Jesus, but what about Lazarus? Where does he belong in the story? 

When Jesus finally arrives, he says, “unbind him and let him go free” and Lazarus is restored to life. But note too that Jesus calls Lazarus to come forth, inviting his response. Jesus doesn’t do anything without our response, without our “yes”. Remember when the angel announced to Mary that she was to be the mother of Jesus, he waited for her “fiat” her assent. In his book “Come Forth” about the story of Lazarus, James Martin states that “for us today, perhaps as important as what Jesus does, is what Lazarus does. Lazarus listens to Jesus and leaves behind death”. 

What can the story of what happened over 2000 years ago in Bethany, a town few kilometres from Jerusalem, a town today called Al Elzaria meaning “The Place of Lazarus”, say to us today, here at St. Matthias. 

We are all Lazarus in the sense that each of us has something in our lives that keep us bound up, unfree. It might be a painful relationship, an addiction, anxiety about a loved one. It could be loneliness, financial concerns, an illness. You too may be grieving the loss of a loved one. 

All of us have things that prevent us from living life fully, living the way God wants us to live. Maybe it’s an old grudge, perhaps a disappointment from long ago, perhaps an unhealthy pattern of living, or a hurt that holds us back from forgiving someone. These are the things that God asks us to leave behind. 

But how can we do that?  Lazarus was only able to come out of the tomb because he knew who was calling him. He trusts Jesus because he knows him. It is the same for us; we can leave behind the dead areas of our lives because we know who is calling us and we can have confidence that the one who calls wants only the fullness of life for us. 

So I invite you today to consider what you need to let die in your own life because Jesus is calling you into the light, into new life, to leave behind all that keeps you bound and unfree.  Amen.

 

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